That Little Kiss You Stole
by Realise-FrenchFries
Summary: The hand she'd hoped would touch her quills suddenly reached out and grabbed her pointing finger. He pinned it to the wall, and she was surprised to see a flare of emotion embedded in his emerald eyes. It wasn't exactly anger, it was more frustration and another kind that she couldn't identify. "Don't tell me how I feel," the blue hedgehog growled.
1. That Little Kiss You Stole

Sonic leaned casually against the wall, in an easy stance he always pulled off remarkably well, despite being reasonably tall. With one hand, he tossed a weapon into the air. It spun in a cartwheel couple of times before coming back down. He caught it handle first.  
>Amy dragged her gaze up from the floor, pinpointing those orbs on her hammer that Sonic grasped in one hand. Amusement flashed in the dark depths of his eyes.<p>

"If you were in a real fight you'd be dead meat by now. Finished. End of story. But, since I'm a nice guy, I'll give you another chance at beating me." He said. He flipped the hammer into the air once again. Amy's eyes followed it longingly. She was about to point out that she was the one who defeated him at _'__Whac-A-Mole'_ yesterday, but she bit back her tongue knowing that logic would get her nowhere.

Instead, she rubbed her forearm across her mouth, hurled herself up, tore the red headband from her quills, and crossed her arms expectantly. She wore a dress that clung dearly to her figure, empathizing each individual curve from her big hips to her small waist. Strands of her pink quills dangled in front of her eyes. But she was ready for anything.

For the past three days Sonic spared some free time teaching Amy a few combat moves, but mainly it was based on how fast she could react to danger coming at her. It started as a joke, Sonic once complimented Amy's speed during a combat round she had with Tails, and feeling very bold about the fact that she did something that impressed him, Amy fought back with a challenge, asking him to try out a few of his moves on her. At first it was a wrestling match, then over the process of two days it turned into a training session.

Had she learned anything? Yes, she did. But she felt more irritated to the fact that she couldn't beat Sonic at his own game. It was like running around in circles with him, he'd pull off the same trick on her but in a different way each time. During each session she got used to face planting the ground, and getting covered in dirt.

"Right," she said. "So you want me to tell you how I'm going to dodge your attacks and why I should be cautious around enemies I don't know."

Sonic stopped flipping the hammer and stared at Amy in astonishment.

"Come on," She laughed. "You don't think I know how you work by now? We've been doing this for three days straight, I'm a quick learner. And I've known you since forever. You always put safety first before letting me do anything fun, even though you don't do that yourself in a real fight."

"Look at you go," he grinned. "Trying to outsmart me. I see you've got it all figured out. So lets put that intelligence to the test." He tossed the hammer down at her feet, watching it skid across the gravel floor. Amy snatched it single handedly.

He leapt towards her. Amy dodged - just barely - and tripped over her feet in the process. Though she managed to maintain her footing.  
>"Really?" Sonic said in a voice that almost sounded sarcastic. "Have you learnt anything at all during the last three days?"<br>He moved on her again, and Amy just barely kept within the lines in escaping him. That soon became the pattern. Amy spent most of her time defending herself from Sonics frailing hands. At one point his right fist shot out towards her face, and she used the handle of her hammer to deflect it.

Grudgingly, she had to acknowledge to herself that he was good. Really good. But she certainly wasn't going to admit that. Although it didn't take long until she felt her emotions bubbling to the surface the more she spent searching for a spot to hit Sonic. What was a tint of anger that she brushed away transformed into a frying pan of fire. She was frustrated at the fact that she couldn't hit him. The fact that she was too slow, and he must think that too. It was like playing a video game and getting stuck on a level, and your character kept constantly dying on that level.

She grunted as she blocked one of his kicks, then throwing away the chances she had Amy swung her hammer, not knowing where abouts it would go. Sonic immediately dropped to his knees. Amy abruptly twirled three-hundred and sixty degrees.  
>"Amy," Sonic said warningly. Ignoring him, Amy plunged her hammer into the ground to stop herself spinning. His voice came more sharply the next time he spoke. <em>"<em>_Amy._ Stop."

She backed away from the hammer, surprised to find her breathing labored. She hadn't realized that she'd been working that hard. Her back hit the wall, and a stinging pain stabbed her skull the minute she hit it. It hurt so much her head instantly turned fuzzy and numb. With no where to go, Amy looked at the floor, covering her entire face with both hands.

"Look at me," he ordered.  
>"Sonic -"<br>_"__Look at me."_

No matter their close history, Sonic was still her friend. She couldn't refuse a direct order. Slowly, she turned towards him, still tilting her head slightly down so the quills hung over the sides of her face. Rushing from where he stood, he walked over and stood before her.

Amy avoided making obvious eye contact but saw his hand move forward to brush back her quills. Then it stopped. As did her breathing. Her short-lived attraction to him had been filled with yearning and lust, when she grew up a bit she came to terms that maybe Sonic wasn't as interested in her as she had been to him. But one thing she'd known for sure: Sonic loved her quills. Maybe he still liked them. They were long and silky and dark, he used to find excuses to touch it, and one time he tried to hide his disgust when she mentioned about cutting them.

His hand hovered there, and the world came to a standstill as she waited to see what he would do. After what felt like forever, he let his hand gingerly fall back to his side. Burning disappointment washed over her, yet at the same time, she'd learnt something.  
>He hesitated.<br>It was as if he was afraid to touch her, which maybe meant that he still wanted to. He'd had to hold himself back.

She knew there was a bruise on her face, near her forehead, she received the injury from Lyric when he knocked her unconscious and attached a device on her head. Amy slowly tipped her head back so that the hedgehogs made eye contact. Most of her quills fell back from her face except one strand. Sonic's hand trembled once again, and a craving desire within her that hadn't died, hoped that he'd reach out further. His hand steadied. Her excitement faded.

"Does it hurt?" He asked. The scent of wildlife attached to him mixed with his sweat, consumed her. Gosh, she wished he had touched her.

"No," she lied.

"It doesn't look that bad," he told her. "It'll heal."

"I hate him," Amy said, astonished at just how much venom those three words held.

"Hates a bit of a strong word," he said gently.

"But I do."

"He's our enemy, I know. But you don't have time to hate on anyone," Sonics voice was still kind. "You haven't been bothered about Lyric before, so why get worked up over him now?"

Outrage joined her other emotions that were stripped bare. The darkness inside her heart began to unfurl. "He gave me a bruise and made me fall unconscious _on purpose_. Why am I the only one who can see that?"

"But we came to your rescue right?" He said, voice hard. "You should be thankful that we got there in time."

"What are you implying? That you wouldn't have come to get me?"

Sonic eyed Amy calmly. "Don't be silly, I've been saving you for most of your life."

Amy's frustration suddenly hit a breaking point, and she gave up trying to keep control. She was tired of being the one who got targeted and kidnapped, she wanted to desperately move on from being the girl in distress, but, she couldn't control the fact that she was the easiest target in the eyes of the villain, even after all these years.

Part of her knew that Sonic was trying to help, somewhere within her she knew he meant well, but she wasn't in the mood right now for jokes. She wished that he'd hold her and tell her not to worry. She craved for comfort, not to be bullied.

"Just stop it okay?" Amy demanded, hands on her hips.

"Stop what?"

"Stop treating me like a child. You don't talk to me like a real person, you never have done. Even after all these years you still act like you want to get away from me." She knew it wasn't fair to take her anger out on him, but she found herself practically shouting. "Before you argue back, yes I know we're training, but this is the first time you've been near me more than ten minutes. And I know you're not always this way. You are perfectly normal when you talk to Knuckles or Tails. But with me? It's a different story altogether. You don't care about me. You're just stuck in your stupid hero role."

He stared at her again, uncharacteristically surprised. "I don't care about you?"

"No." She was being very, very petty. And she knew that, she knew the truth. But she just couldn't help herself though, she wanted a reaction from him. The insults kept coming and coming like a water streaming down a pipe. Amy jabbed his chest with her finger. "I'm like any other girl to you. Someone who you'll soon -"

The hand she'd hoped would touch her quills suddenly reached out and grabbed her pointing finger. He pinned it to the wall, and she was surprised to see a flare of emotion embedded in his emerald eyes. It wasn't exactly anger, it was more frustration and another kind that she couldn't identify.

"Don't tell me how I feel," the blue hedgehog growled.

"That's it, isn't it?" Amy could see that half of what she said was true. Sonic was always calm, even in a battle or even when he's knocking on doom's door and asking to be killed by the enemy. Never in her life had she'd seen him act hysterical.

"What?" Sonic said.

"You're always fighting for control."

"No." He said, still obviously worked up by her harsh words. "I learnt about control a long time ago."

Something about this new piece of information amused Amy. "No." She informed him. "You haven't. You put on a brave face, and the majority of the time you are in control. But sometimes..." the female leant forward, lowering her voice. "You want to embrace that part of you thats wild. You would love to lose control if the opportunity came."

"Amy..."

She could see his labored breathing and knew instantly that his heart was pumping very hard, as swiftly as hers. And he wasn't attempting to pull away. She knew this was wrong - on so many different levels. She knew all the logical reasons for them staying apart. But in this moment in time, Amy didn't care at all. She didn't want to control herself. She didn't want to be good.

Before Sonic realized what was happening. Amy kissed him hard. Their lips met, and when she felt him kiss her back, she knew she was right. The blue blur pressed himself closer than skin would allow, trapping her between him and the wall. He snaked his fingers between the gaps between hers, holding her hand, whilst his other one slivered behind her head, sliding into her quills. The kiss was filled with so much intensity, it made Amy feel dizzy. It held anger, raw passion, release...

Up to the point where he was the first to break away. Sonic jerked from her and traveled several steps back in a hurry, looking shocked and traumatized.

"Do _not_ do that again," he said stiffly.

"Don't kiss me back then," Amy couldn't stop her mischievous smile growing.

Sonic stared at the pink hedgehog for what seemed like forever. "I don't treat you like a kid. I do talk to you normally. And I don't want to get away from you all the time. I'm just trying to protect you."

"You're doing a great job," Amy said bitterly.

He closed his eyes for half a second, exhaled, and muttered something that was too soft for anyone to hear. Without another glance towards her direction, he turned and sped away.


	2. Bulletproof Love

I didn't see Sonic for a while after that. In fact he completely stopped the sessions we were having, because I went back a few times to see if he was there, which, he wasn't. Just like I'd predicted.

I hadn't heard a single word from him, and whenever I asked Tails or Knuckles about his whereabouts they told me he was either out running or sleeping. It was the same lame excuse and I knew he was deliberately avoiding me. If he wanted to get away from me that badly, I would have preferred it if he'd got Tails to pass on a note or something, not just suddenly disappear.

Regardless of his story though, I knew he was avoiding me because of the kiss.

That damned kiss. I didn't regret it, not exactly. God only knew how much I'd been wanting to kiss him.

But I'd done it for the wrong reasons. I'd done it because I was upset and frustrated and had simply wanted to prove that I could. I was so tired of doing the right thing, the smart thing. I was trying to be more in control lately, but I seemed to be slipping.

I also hadn't forgotten the warning that he'd once given me—that us being together wasn't just about age. It would interfere with our enemies. With Lyric. In the eyes of the snake If Sonic and I were together he would see our relationship as the perfect bait, Sonic was in fear that I would get captured again, so it was only natural to stay apart. But pushing him into the kiss…well, I'd fanned the flames of a problem that could eventually hurt both of us. I shouldn't have done it. I'd hadn't been able to stop myself back then.

It had been four days. Four days without being around Sonic felt more devastating than I thought it would feel. I found myself constantly blaming myself for shoving him away. I shouldn't be worrying, really. What was done was done, and there was no changing the outcome. For the last four days I'd been debating on whether I should approach him first or wait for him to come to me. Although, it would be best if I said sorry, at least that would give me an excuse to look for him. There was no point in seeking help from Knuckles or Tails again. So that only left one person.

And that someone found me earlier on that morning.

I'd fallen asleep after dinner, too dejected to leave the bed. Her slamming of the door jolted me awake.  
>"Sticks?" I was happy to see her. I needed to spill out my troubles and gain comforting words from another female, but before I could began to open my mouth the chestnut badger sank beside me on the bed, the memory-foam mattress dipped deeper underneath her weight. Sticks scooped both my hands in hers, squeezing onto them firmly whilst staring into my eyes.<br>"I has a bad feeling there's something going on between you and Sonic. The violins won't stop playing the blues man. So come on spill it. What's up?" This is what I like about Sticks, she gets straight to the point.

Though it wasn't until in that moment I realized I had been backed into a corner, which kind of made me feel trapped and instantly regret what I did even more than I should. I told Sticks the entire story leaving out the kissing part, instead saying we had an argument that ended badly. The chestnut badger stared at me for a bit in that creepy way she always seemed to pull off every time. I figured that type of expression was actually her thinking face, which made my original thought even weirder.

"I think you should give him a piece of your mind!" She released my hands to exaggerate her point, flailing her arms in the air to form fists, she struck a fighting stance and pretended to attack the particles in the air. I should have expected this type of reaction. She was always the violent type, jumping into conclusions too soon before thinking about the consequences first.

I sighed heavily, feeling completely hopeless. I felt that my friend wasn't truly understanding me, but I pushed on with the subject despite the little nagging voice in my head, I might as well spill the rest of it now that I had it in the open.

"The last thing I want to do is hurt him, Sticks." I shifted my weight across the bed till I was sitting at the edge beside my lava lamp. "And besides, I'll be slightly relieved when he leaves us for a while. I don't know if I can take much more of this." According to Knuckles, someone called asking for Sonic to come to the other side of the island. The guardian didn't elaborate on the topic. Refusing to tell me why Sonic was needed by people we didn't know and where exactly he was going, especially without his friends. But to be honest, that was fine by me. I thought it'd be best to create some distance between us, a distance that was much further than the other side of the room. Plus, he was going to be away for a few days, so that gave me time to think of an excuse to talk to him again, which was good enough for me.

Sticks turned to me in surprise. "Oh. Um, you don't know?"

I sensed a strange vibe coming from her telling me that I wasn't going to like what was coming next.

"Know what?"

"Uh, he isn't leaving. At all. He's still sticking around for a while."

"He has to leave," I argued. For some reason I couldn't handle the thought of Sonic being in the same room as me for much longer, it was bad enough that he couldn't look me in the eye. And I was already drowning in the awkwardness, I just couldn't take it. It was hard to stay away from someone who was apart of you. "Knuckles told me that he was needed somewhere alone? Without us?"

"His plans to leave were ruined because Sonic refused to go. He said - and these were his exact words - that he had some 'unfinished work' to take care of."

I stared.

'Unfinished work' eh? By any chance would he be referring to me? Yes. That had to be it. There was no other explanation for Sonic to decline, especially if those people needed his help. Knowing Sonic he never turned down an invitation without a darn good reason, so I must be that reason. I'm the one at fault, aren't I? Or was he staying purely because he wants to sort things out? Maybe that was it. I couldn't puzzle together a proper conclusion since my brain had turned into mush. I felt so confused. So wounded, and stressed up to a certain extent. But knowing that Sonic wasn't leaving made me feel ten times as worse because I sure as hell wasn't ready to face him yet.

Smiling at my shock, Sticks nodded. "I should know because he told me himself that he wasn't going."

"I should have seen this coming," I mused wiping my hands over my face in dismay. "He's not leaving because of me, that must be the reason. Why else would he decline?"

"Because he just wants to irritate you even more?" She teased.

"No," I said in a monotone. "This puts me in an awkward position."

Sticks sat beside me again, the memory foam mattress bounced, forcing my shoulder to bump into hers. As a beautiful smile lit her face she reached out and softly brushed my hand. I had absolute faith in her. Even though she was a bit of a psycho, that didn't matter. I still trusted whatever advice she gave me because she was a true friend who trusted me as much as I trusted her. And that was all that mattered.

"Don't make me sort this out myself," she said softly, almost taunting.

My eyes widened at the same time my body tensed. "You wouldn't."

"I would. If you don't speak up I'll drag him here right now and lock the door -"

"Okay okay!" Sonics words slammed into my mind just then. His warning about us being together. Uneasily, I thought about my behavior these last couple of days. Some of the angry outbursts. My rebelliousness - unusual even for me. My own black coil of emotion, stirring within my chest. I waved my hands in front of her face and shot up from the bed. Seeing Sticks watching me, I tried to compose myself before sighing in defeat. "Fine, I'll go."

"Brilliant!" Sticks clapped her hands, bouncing on the bed in delight. "He's in the lounge right now, go before you change your mind."

I opened my mouth to say something else, but as I breathed sharply Sticks objected, jerking off the bed she dug her deadly claws into my shoulders. A yelp generated in my throat at the small pain but before I could protest she twirled me around and shoved me abruptly in the direction of the door, saying "go" over and over again. She single handedly flung the door open before practically kicking me out of my own room.

**~x~**  
>Soon I knew I had to deal with this.<p>

I stood outside the lounge door, directly facing it as if I was preparing myself for some big event. I shook my hands in an attempt to cool them down - which had no effect whatsoever. I had never felt so nervous in my life, but I pushed past my muddled thoughts and the nagging voice telling me to turn back. There was no escape, I had made my decision finally. And besides, if I didn't go through with this Sticks was going to do more than just murder me.

Mentally counting to three I gently opened the door and peaked around the corner, immediately finding Sonic slumped on my purple sofa. Tv remote in his right hand as he aimlessly skimmed through the channels on my television. He looked up at my entrance. I'd seen little of him in these last few days and had figured he was busy with Tails. Though he threw me off guard when he spoke first.

"I thought you might come by," he said, pressing the red button to switch off the TV.

It was really bizarre considering the fact we haven't been speaking for four days straight, and the time when I actually plan what to say, he comes up with that, acting as if nothing happened. This ruined everything for me. He caught me by surprise and I found myself stupidly gaping at him in confusion. Since he started the conversation my mind went blank. Because you know those times when you completely forget what your going to say, like you walk into a room to do something and once you get there you instantly forget why you went in that room? Yeah. That's how I felt.

"Don't mind me I'm getting...something." I pushed as much patented Amy Rose bravado into my words as I could.

Sonic wasn't falling for any of it. He gestured to the space beside him.

"Sit down, Amy."  
>I hesitated only a moment before complying. He turned to face me so that we sat directly across from each other. My heart fluttered as I looked into those gorgeous dark eyes.<p>

Sonic sealed his hands together to stop his arms from becoming annoyingly uncomfortable. "This thought has been bugging me, and I'm just...curious." He sighed, leaning forward, balancing his elbows on his knees in unease. I could tell by his body language that this was really difficult for him to say. "Why did you do that?"

I swallowed hard. "I don't know," my eyes dropped from his and studied the floor. "It's my fault," I said in a small voice.

"Hmm?"

"That kiss. I forced you into it."

I didn't have to see Sonic's face to know compassion was filling it. "It's okay, really. You made a bad decision and it won't happen again, right?"

Tears brimmed in my eyes as I looked back up. "The kiss was the icing on the cake. Before that the whole reason Lyric kidnapped me - it was my fault. I knew how to translate some ancient carvings...and the more he tortured my brain I couldn't take it...I told him what they said, even though I promised you that I wouldn't..."

One tear leaked out of the corner of my eye. Really, I need to learn to stop that. I felt a finger brush underneath my eye and realized Sonic delicately wiped it off my cheek.

"You can't blame yourself for that," he told me. "You were in pain. I mean, if I was in your shoes I would have probably done the same thing. It's alright. You've got nothing to regret." That hand that wiped away my tears hovered over my cheek, gingerly cupping it inside his warm palm I had to resist the urge to melt into his touch by pulling away. I swallowed back more tears that threatened to leak before standing up. I had to leave before I said something stupid.

"I should go," I said thickly. "Let me know when you want to start practice again. And thanks for…talking." I started to turn; then I heard him say abruptly, "No."

I glanced back. "What?"

He held my gaze, and something warm and wonderful and powerful shot between us.

"No," Sonic repeated. "I haven't learnt self control, you were right." The ghost of a smile flickered across his face as he said that. For some reason I couldn't prevent a small smile of my own from forming."You've ruined me Amy Rose - and I mean that in the most nicest way. You were right, about how I fight to stay in control. No one else has ever figured that out— and it scared me. You scare me." He got up taking a few steps toward me. "But you know things, Ames. Things people older than you don't even know. And that's what I like about you, I like the fact that you've finally figured me out."

I almost started crying again. "Why don't you want anyone knowing about your self-control?"

He shrugged. "Whether they know that fact or not doesn't matter. What matters is that someone - that you - know me that well. When a person can see you inside out, it forces you to be open. Vulnerable. And I guess I've been blinded to that until now. That kiss was the trigger that started all this. And since then, I haven't stopped thinking about it."

I had the exact same issue. "Me too."

"So…that's where our problem begins."

"Because it's wrong for us to be together."

"Yes."

"Because of the age difference."

"Yes."

"But more importantly because we're going to be fighting Lyric and need to focus on him—not each other."

"Yes."

I thought about this for a moment and then looked straight into Sonic's evergreen eyes.  
>"Well," I said at last, "the way I see it, we aren't bait right now."<p>

I braced myself for his next response. Knowing it was going to be one of his awkward jokes or a shy chuckle that silenced further conversation. Something that was guaranteed to ruin this perfect vibe I was beginning to adore, something that would leave me feeling even more heart wrenched than I felt before entering this room. I was presuming the usual response I got.

Instead Sonic closed the gap. Moving his mouth down and brushed it against my lips. Kissing me.

Time stopped as he reached out and cupped my face between his hands. It was barely a kiss at first but soon increased, becoming heady and deep. At the same time it was still gentle, but captivating, a mixture of sweet wild flowers and jungle fruit. Mesmerized lips press together time after time, transporting us to another world. Though to my disappointment our special moment was short lived when he finally pulled away, bringing his lips up to kiss my forehead. My eyes fluttered as I felt his lips hang there for several seconds, his arms hugged me close. I wished the kiss could have gone on forever.

Breaking the embrace, he ran a few fingers through my quills and down my cheek before stepping back toward the door. "I'll see you later, Ames."

"At our next practice?" I asked. "We are starting those up again, right? I mean, you still have things to teach me."

Standing in the doorway, he looked over at me and smiled. "Yes. Lots of things."


End file.
